A backup power line at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant was damaged by shelling today, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced. All four regular power lines have already failed. One of the three replacement lines between the reactors and the conventional power plant has now been damaged by fire.
The other two have been shut down, a senior member of the Ukrainian staff at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant told IAEA experts present at the facility. The reactors must be supplied with electricity so that the cooling cycle can be maintained.
UN appeals on both sides
After the presentation of an investigation report on the situation at the Russian-occupied Ukrainian nuclear power plant Zaporizhia, Moscow is demanding more information from the international experts. The IAEA had been asked for “additional explanations,” Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov told the Interfax agency on the fringes of an economic forum in the eastern port city of Vladivostok. He did not give details.
An IAEA team led by Director Rafael Grossi visited the plant last week to analyze the security situation. Grossi then warned the Security Council of the danger of a nuclear catastrophe. Two IAEA experts stayed there permanently. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on both warring parties to set up a demilitarized zone around the nuclear power plant. As a first step, they would have to undertake not to undertake any military activities towards or from the nuclear power plant, Guterres told the UN Security Council.
Operator wants blue helmet deployment
The state operator of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant has meanwhile called for UN blue helmets to be sent to the Russian-occupied indictment. This might be a way to create a security zone at the nuclear power plant and withdraw Russian troops, Enerhoatom chief Petro Kotyn said in a statement broadcast by Ukrainian television.
Ukraine also reiterated its call for Russian troops to withdraw from the nuclear power plant. Otherwise, the security proposals made by the IAEA cannot be implemented. “Because only we, unlike the Russians, are able to guarantee the implementation of all the components of operational safety,” wrote Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko on Facebook. The IAEA report recorded the presence of Russian soldiers and technology and representatives of the Russian nuclear company Rosatom in the power plant.